In order to study the failure patterns and strength of 3D braided composites from the microscopic view, the damage propagation under tensile loading steps in three kinds of unit cells is simulated. The homogenization formula of micro-stress and the solving approach of finite element method are given firstly. A criterion is presented to determine the damage and its pattern of each element, and then the stiffness degradation method based on Murakami's geometric damage theory is used to simulate the status of damage under tensile loading steps for three kinds of unit cells. It can be seen that the damage percentage and damage pattern of damaged unit cell are totally different for different kind of unit cells. More damaged elements are observed for face cell and corner cell than that for body cell. It is also observed that the damage firstly occurs at the area of face cell, which agrees well with experimental results. It is verified that considering the effects of face and corner cells are important for the damage and strength analysis of 3D braided composites.
The fatigue life prediction of high strength steel SUS 630 （H900） under high cycle loading is conducted with consideration of a characteristic fatigue length of material. Based on the WShler curve of smooth materials, a modified method for fatigue life prediction is approached. The characteristic fatigue length of material under cyclic loading is associated with the polycrystalline material. Rather than the stress at a point, the average stress within the characteristic fatigue length is implemented for the fatigue life prediction. The method can be applied to both the smooth and the defected material. The fatigue life prediction is also verified experimentally by specimens with various small circular holes. Through the comparison, it is found that the method can be adopted to predict the fatigue lives with different size effects.
